High School Football: Aberdeen Roncalli sails by Webster

Cavaliers clinch share of conference title

October 16, 2010|BY DAVE VILHAUER, dvilhauer@aberdeennews.com

It was business as usual for Aberdeen Roncalli at Swisher Field Friday night. Another special teams masterpiece, another shutout, another unbeaten season at home and in the end another conference championship. The Cavaliers, like they have so many times on the artificial turf at Swisher Field, caused havoc with their defense and played on a short field in rolling past Webster 54-0 in a game that ended with 4:16 remaining. Roncalli clinched at least a share of the Northeast Conference title with the victory. In the six seasons that new Swisher Field has been in use, Roncalli is 30-2 at home with 18 shutouts and has outscored its opponents by a combined 1,094 to 182. I like those stats, said four-year varsity member Andrew Holmstrom. We like to think this is our house. We like to play well at home. We really work hard to impress our fans at home. Holmstrom was plenty impressive himself against Webster. He blocked a punt and returned it for a score, picked off a pass and took it back for a touchdown, and also caught a 10-yard strike from Christian Cox for a score. I was just fortunate, Holmstrom said of his interception. On that pick, the line just rushed and made him throw up a duck and I just took it to the house. You have to give a lot of credit to the line on that one. Roncalli's interior line of Landan Pietz, Jon Heintzman, Michael Martel, Ross Barton and Matt Senger, were a load to deal with all evening. They were indirectly responsible for forcing three interceptions, all of which resulted in touchdowns. I don't think we've had a game where we had three interceptions that we returned for touchdowns, said Roncalli coach Terry Dosch. Kudos to our defense. The key there was maybe our pressure up front. I thought Landan and Jon and Michael, Ross and Matt did a great job of putting a little pressure on him. The Cavaliers knew the Bearcats planned on spreading the field and were ready to pounce on pass routes. We're athletic enough that we know that we can cover the guy, said Roncalli senior Chris Malsam. We let our safeties call out the calls and we just follow through and make the plays. Malsam made one of those plays, picking off a pass and returning it 31 yards for a score. I was playing Cover-2 out there, Malsam explained. I saw him look over there. I sat there and picked it off and took it in. Austin Bierle also had a pick-six for the Cavaliers, who finished with as many defensive and special teams touchdowns as offensive scores. Sean Schmidt also hauled in a touchdown pass from Cox, two plays after Barton blocked a punt. Roncalli also received touchdown runs from reserves Matt Swallow and Brayden Hilton as the Cavaliers finished the regular season with a 7-1 record. Dosch credited his seniors for another stellar season and NEC championship. They've hung in there and got themselves a conference title, Dosch said. It's kind of like when you go into battle and the lead guy has got that little banner and if something happens, he gets shot and drops it, the next guy picks it up. Over the years, (our seniors are) a part of what we hope is a proud tradition. It's their turn to pick up the banner and march forward and they responded. The Cavaliers, who have a bye next week, will host a first-round playoff game on Oct. 26 against an opponent to be determined. We'll see what happens. We'll watch some scores, Dosch said. We just know we're going to be playing and that's what we want do to, keep playing. Webster (2-5) 0 0 0 0- 0 Aberdeen Roncalli (7-1) 28 20 0 6-54 First Quarter AR - Andrew Holmstrom 8 blocked punt return (Christian Cox), 8:43. AR - Chris Malsam 31 pass interception (Cox kick), 4:36. AR - Sean Schmidt 9 pass from Cox (Cox kick), 2:45. AR - Austin Bierle 33 pass interception return (Cox kick), :55. Second Quarter AR - Holmstrom 28 pass interception return (Cox kick), 11:49. AR - Holmstrom 10 pass from Cox (Michael Martel kick), 6:37. AR - Matt Swallow 1 run (kick blocked), 1:15. Fourth Quarter AR - Brayden Hilton 7 run, 4:16. WHS RHSFirstdowns 6 14Rushes-yards 24-46 27-210Passing 53 65Comp-Att-Int 7-17-3 6-10-0Punts-Avg. 4-26.7 0-00.0Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-0Penalties-Yards 4-33 3-15 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Webster, Andy Rithmiller 4-35, Jared McClurg 5-19, Connor Spindler 2-9; Aberdeen Roncalli, Matt Swallow 7-63, Andrew Holmstrom 7-39, Christian Cox 2-37, Trevor Zens 2-34, Lucas Lorenz 3-26, Brayden Hilton 3-6, Matt Senger 3-5. PASSING-Webster, Tanner Lux 7-16-3 for 53, Spencer Lux 0-1-0 for 0; Aberdeen Roncalli, Christian Cox 6-10-0 for 65. RECEIVING-Webster, Jared McClurg 2-15, Michael Bartos 1-13, Spencer Lux 1-13, Spencer Rausch 2-12; Aberdeen Roncalli, Austin Bierle 1-24, Andrew Holmstrom 2-17, Sean Schmidt 1-9, Matt Senger 1-8, Chris Malsam 1-7. TACKLES-Webster, Jared McClurg 5, Tanner Lux 4, Danny Zenk 3; Aberdeen Roncalli, Matt Senger 3, Damian Anderson 3, Matt Swallow 3.